Serial rapist Dominique Pelicot is likely to die behind bars after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for the campaign of abuse he and dozens of strangers carried out against his wife Gisele.
But he could still face another embarrassing trial, as investigators believe the depraved 72-year-old may be responsible for the rape and murder of Sophie Narme, a real estate agent, in 1991.
Detectives are investigating the cold case that bears a striking resemblance to an attempted rape of a 23-year-old real estate agent known as Marion in 1999. She fought off her attacker and Pelicot’s DNA was later recovered at the scene. , although he maintains that No tried to rape her.
It comes as psychologists who interviewed Pelicot explained his complex psychological problems, positing that the sexual abuse he claimed to have experienced as a child likely “sharpened” the traits that led him to become the man who so egregiously abused his own wife.
Dr. Laurent Layet, one of the first doctors to interview Pelicot following his 2020 arrest for taking upskirt photos of women in a shopping mall, said he encouraged authorities to further investigate the man who they say He said, “he showed no signs of serious mental illness.” .
Dr. Layet stated that Pelicot exhibited “egomania, narcissistic fragility, emotional disorders… an abnormal sexual deviation combining candaulism (exposing one’s female partner to others for sexual enjoyment), voyeurism and somnophilia.”
Pelicot is definitely not “crazy” and cannot attribute his crimes to mental illness, the psychologist said.
But he added that the “Monster of Avignon”, as he is known, is a misplaced nickname, claiming that Pelicot had developed two completely different personalities.
Dr Layet told the BBC he witnessed a “fissure” in Pelicot’s psyche and explained how he had developed two “airtight parts… with no leaks between them”. His dual personality is very effective and very solid. Either we have “normal Mr. Pelicot” or the other Mr. Pelicot at night, in the bedroom.’
Serial rapist Dominique Pelicot is already at risk of dying behind bars after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for the campaign of abuse that he and dozens of strangers carried out against his wife Gisele.
Gisele Pelicot leaves the court after hearing the verdict of the court that sentenced her ex-husband to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison
In a selfie taken by her cruel and abusive spouse, Gisele is seen smiling at the camera held by her then-spouse in a sun-drenched marina.
One of the rapists who served time in preventive detention is challenged by the crowd outside the court
The worst sexual abuse case ever recorded in France finally concluded yesterday after a months-long trial, with Pelicot and 50 other men tried and brought to justice.
During the trial, several psychologists who analyzed Pelicot revealed chilling insights into the man’s mind.
He oversaw a campaign of abuse that lasted nearly a decade, between 2011 and 2020, in which he systematically drugged his wife until she was unconscious and invited dozens of strangers to his family home to rape her on camera.
A psychological report presented to the court suggested that Pelicot showed a tendency towards “paraphilia” (sexual arousal in atypical situations) and also “somnophilia” (an attraction to unconscious partners).
This turned him into a “very loving and well-liked grandfather during the day,” but a “rapist at night,” psychologist Bruno Daunizeau explained in the report.
The “two-faced personality” of a “sex addict” and a “manipulative pervert” meant that Pelicot acted as the split-personality character in “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” the gothic novel by terror of the Scottish writer Robert Louis. Stevenson.
“During the day, you can be normal and look different at night,” Dr. Daunizeau said.
Marianne Douteau, another psychologist, told the court that Pelicot still felt his life could have gone on as normal, despite the crimes he admitted to.
She agreed that he had a “split personality” and had inherited the temper of a violent father.
Douteau claimed that Pelicot “complains that this criminal case against him has destroyed his life.”
“He claims that everything could have continued as before if he had not been arrested.”
Pelicot is reported to have claimed: “Gisele wouldn’t have known anything, we would have remained happy.”
Dr. Douteau added that Pelicot “has a split personality: he is a patriarch but he is also irresponsible and manipulative.” Behind closed doors he doesn’t respect limits.’
Pelicot told detectives that he considered himself a “good husband” to the woman he married in 1971 and with whom he had three children.
He said he was “respectful of his wife’s wishes and refusals” to have sex, but that he “also had fantasies about swinging” and “took pleasure in watching his wife perform sexual acts that she normally rejected.”
Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, victim of an alleged mass rape orchestrated by her then-husband Dominique Pelicot in their home in the city of Mazan, in the south of France, leaves the court surrounded by French police and journalists after the verdict in the trial against Dominique Pelicot and 50 co-defendant, in Avignon, France, December 19, 2024
A man hiding his face is surrounded by French police, journalists and protesters as he leaves after the verdict in the Dominique Pelicot trial.
Gisele Pelicot arrives in front of the courthouse before a verdict is issued in the Pelicot case on December 19, 2024 in Avignon, France.
Dr Paul Bensussan said Pelicot had tried to justify the abuse he had committed against his wife by the abuse he himself suffered as a child, and told the court he believed the defendant would always pose a danger.
The doctor said: ‘Pelicot is a persistent liar…he has a split personality. Even if he says he admits his crimes, he will still be a voyeur and exhibitionist.
‘I don’t think this can be treated.
‘Sexual orientation is given for life, whether that sexuality is deviant or not. And the problem with perversion is that the doses have to be increased.
“The only cure is old age because it leads to physical deterioration… this is not a satisfactory treatment.”
Addressing Madame Pelicot and her children, Dr Bensussan said: ‘I will have to be a little rude and I apologize in advance to the civil parties (Madame Pelicot and her children).
‘Pelicot explained that she rejected what he wanted (to have sexual relations with other partners). But while asleep she couldn’t deny him anything.
‘This is rape by order… (for him) it is as if she was the one who had made the family dirty.’
Another psychologist who interviewed Pelicot in December 2020, a month and a half after his arrest, told the court: “Pelicot said: ‘My wife and I had an argument about swinging, but she didn’t agree, so I I took drugs.” ‘.’
Annabelle Montagne said Pelicot maintained that he loved his wife, but added: “He sees his partner as an object to satisfy his sexual and narcissistic needs.” His wife is then a partial object and no longer an object of total love.’
Pelicot, who has been in custody since his arrest in 2020, was deemed too ill to testify on Monday and will be questioned by prosecutors later this week.
He was arrested for the first time in September 2020 for filming women’s skirts in a supermarket in Carpentras.
His devices were searched and police discovered he had meticulously cataloged thousands of pornographic photographs and videos of women, including members of his family.
It was while in custody that Pelicot reported a hard drive, hidden under a printer, that contained a file called “Abuses.”
It classified the nicknames and phone numbers of the attackers, along with thousands of videos and photographs of Gisele Pelicot being raped between 2011 and 2020.
Dominique Pelicot is accused of orchestrating the rape ring
Madame Pelicot is determined to let the public know that she played no role in her husband’s twisted sexual fantasies which he played out in their picturesque chalet in the Provençal village of Mazan (pictured).
Pelicot moved with his family from greater Paris in 1991, the same year he is suspected of raping and murdering estate agent Sophie, and later setting up his sordid sexual ring.
He created an online forum called “Without Her Knowing” on the now-defunct website coco.fr in which he searched for men willing to “abuse my sleeping wife.”
Pelicot sedated his wife by putting Temesta, a powerful anti-anxiety medication, in her dinner, before inviting strangers to rape her on camera.
Yesterday, the Monster of Avignon was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Judge Roger Arata after he pleaded guilty to drugging Gisele repeatedly over almost a decade to rape her and offer her unconscious body for sex.
Several abusers escaped justice and police were unable to identify more than 20 men involved in Gisele’s abuse.
But Arata handed down guilty sentences to 50 other men in addition to Pelicot.
In total, the court found 47 of the defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.
Chaos erupted outside the courtroom with a large group of howling protesters gathered outside shouting “shame on you” as the defendants walked out, hiding their faces behind masks and hoods.
Among the rapists involved in the case were public officials, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a journalist, a municipal councilor and truck drivers.